


mark on my body, mark on my heart

by simpleParadox



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 18:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6670609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simpleParadox/pseuds/simpleParadox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where everyone has the name of their soulmate written on their body, Vax spends most of his time wondering who this Percival is and why his name is so god damn long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	mark on my body, mark on my heart

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to asia for giving me the title for this fic! also a shout out to asia again and sarah for giving me some ideas for this :)

“Percival…Fredrickstein…Von…Vax, I can’t see the rest of it, turn your arm more!” Vex harshly twisted her brothers arm more so she could read the name on his arm. His soulmates name.

“Ow!” Vax hissed as he felt a jolt of pain come from his arm as his sister forcefully turned it to read. The name was so long that it wrapped around Vax’s arm like a snake. He wasn’t able to read it without help.

“Von Musel Klossowski…how the bloody hell is there more?” Vex snarled as she tried to maneuver herself under Vax’s arm to read the rest of it. “Ah there we go, de Rolo III.”

“Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III,” Vax repeated the name in its entirety.

“It’s long, he must be rich or something,” Vex huffed, looking at her own soulmate mark on her shoulder. Her’s what much shorter than his, the name “Zarha” written in fancy script.

“Yes, your soulmate must come from nobility.” The twins shot up from their seat on Vax’s bed when their father entered the room, long flowing robes draped from his person, a crown of gold perched on his head. The stern look on his face alerted Vax that he was here to scold them for something. “And I’m sure someone from a high status would never accept a soulmate who comes home covered in dirt and grime and gets into fights every other day.”

Vax narrowed his eyes at his father. “How would you know?” he spat, holding his arm to his chest as if he was protecting his soulmate from his fathers harsh words and assumptions.

Once Vax had understood what soulmate marks meant his father would constantly use it to belittle him, to get him to act like the royalty he was. It never suited Vax though, he hated everything about his father and Syngorn. He hated the classes, he hated having to be dressed up and proper all the time, he hated that he would never see his mother again. But he always had his mark, and he always had his dreams that one day he would meet Percival and he would take him away from this terrible life.

—

Unfortunately, Percival never did show up to rescue him. Instead Vax and his twin sister just up and left Syngorn, much to their fathers distaste.

Vex would spend most of her time in the forests, finding peace in the solitude among the trees. Vax took to the cities, unsure of what to do with his life. He would often find himself daydreaming about the day he would meet his soulmate, what he would look like, where they would live together. Silly dreams that kept him going when he felt like his life was leading to nothing.

Vax always had a knack for stealing. He was quiet and could disappear in an instant when needed. His skills were what attracted the attention of The Clasp.

The Clasp was a group of thieves, and not just any thieves, the best thieves in all of Exandria. It wasn’t Vax’s usual cup of tea, but they offered good rewards and boy did they need the money. They might have been royalty but cutting all ties to their family certainly didn’t leave them with much gold to go around.

Vax didn’t make friends in The Clasp. He didn’t need anyone besides his sister, he told himself. His sister and his soulmate, who he would eventually find. Or at least, he thought he would find untold The Clasp told him the news.

The Clasp would run background checks on all their members soulmates. They would often use it as leverage to get people to do what they wanted: do this job and you get to find out where your soulmate is. After weeks of waiting for information about his soulmate, Vax was finally approached by someone about it.

“Sorry mate,” he started off, the man holding a few pieces of paper in his hands, avoiding eye contact with the other rogue. “The whole de Rolo family was wiped out a while back. They’re not sure what happened, think it’s some sorta sickness. Here ya go, if you wanna know more.” He handed Vax the papers then walked away.

Vax was entirely still. He couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. He was looking at the pieces of paper but he couldn’t bring himself to read it. This couldn’t be happening.

In one shattering moment all those silly daydreams were just that. Dreams. Dreams that would never become reality. He would never get to meet Percival. He would never know what he looked like. What kind of man he was. What he would say to Vax when they met for the first time. What it would feel like to kiss him.

He couldn't sleep for a long time after that. He dreams were plagued with memories he would never have and gruesome images of his soulmate dying slowly. Vax would wake up in a cold sweat, tears running down his face as he wished his life hadn’t turned out like this.

Vex would tell him she was sorry. She would make him dinner every night, stay by his side when Vax knew that she wanted to be back out in the forest again with Trinket. He hated seeing the pity in her eyes, it just reminded him of how much it fucking hurt to lose some you love. Someone you never got the chance to meet.

—

“I, for one, think The Shits is an excellent and very professional name,” Scanlan hummed as they walk through the Umberhills.

“Don’t you think it’s a tad bit…obscene?” Pike asked, tiny arms crossed as she stared at the other gnome next to her.

“Oh darling, you’re so pure and good. What did I do to deserve a soulmate like you?” Scanlan smiled as he tried to wrap his arm around Pike’s shoulders. The cleric quickly pushed the arm away and glared at him.

“Just because we have each others names on our bodies doesn’t mean we’re in love,” Pike told him.

“Precisely,” Tiberius mused, adding to the conversation. “It’s true that you may be soulmates, but it doesn't guarantee that you’ll fall in love with them. There are many cases where soulmates just simply don’t work out as a couple.”

“Could we maybe cool it with the soulmate talk guys?” Vex said, eyeing Vax as they walked.

“Oh yes. My apologies,” Tiberius said, taking the hint.

“I’m fine. You can talk about it if you wish,” Vax told them, eyes staying straight ahead as he lead the group through the Umberhills.

“I’m just saying, we have more important matters to attend to. Like fixing Grog,” Vex said, trying to change the conversation topic.

“I agree,” Keyleth nodded, voice still quiet. The druid was still shy, maybe she would become more friendly later on? Vax wasn’t too sure, the group had not been together that long.

“Excuse me!” Vax’s head perked up as he looked to where the foreign voice was coming from. The half elf turned his head to the right to see a man, somewhat taller than him, with snowy white hair and piercing blue eyes hidden behind spectacles. He was dressed in ratty clothing and was currently behind bars.

“You know this guy?” Vex asked as Vax stopped in his tracks to look at the prisoner.

Vax shook his head. “I have no idea who he is.”

“I’m sorry, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor!” the man asked, grasping the bars of his cell. The group was hesitant but Vax approached him. It was like his legs were moving by themselves. There was just something about him that seemed…important.

“Terribly sorry to impose this on you, you just seem like nice folk who might be able to help me out. I got caught in this complicated situation that ended with me stuck in this cell. I promise I didn’t do anything wrong, so if you would be so kind as to maybe pay my bail? I can most certainly pay you back,” the man rambled as the rest of the group followed Vax.

“And why would we help you exactly?” Vex asked, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

“I overheard something you said about helping a friend? I could be of some assistance,” the man said, pushing up his glasses as they started to fall down the bridge of his nose.

As he did Vax saw the mans wrist. He froze as he saw that his name, Vax’ildan, was written on the mans inner wrist.

“Listen man, we don’t even know you, how could we trust you to help us out if we don’t even know your name?” Scanlan told him as he approached the bars.

“Oh, my apologies, I forgot to introduce myself,” the man laughed. “My name is-,”

“Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III,” Vax said for him, eyes locked on his wrist.

“H-How did you know that? T-The Briarwood’s didn’t send you, did they?” Percival seemed rather shaken now. Vax would have to ask him later about who the Briarwood’s were. Maybe they were the reason why everyone thinks Percival is dead.

Vax just smiled in response and rolled up the sleeve for his right arm, showing Percival his name that wrapped around him.

Percival was silent for a few moments, staring at Vax’s arm. “Oh my gods, it takes up almost your entire arm! I’m so sorry!”

Vax just burst out into laugher. After all the situations that he made up in his head about their first meeting he never in a million years would guess that he would say something like that.

“It’s alright,” he said once his laughter died down. “I quite like it actually.”

At this Percival smiled and extended his right arm to him through the bars, Vax’s name showing on his wrist. Vax took it and shook it, feeling his broken self slowly start to piece itself back together. “You can call me Percy, Vax’ildan.”

“Please, call me Vax, darling.”

—

Life got much better after Vax found out that Percy wasn’t dead. After they paid his bail, much to Vex’s chagrin, they had all gone to a pub where Percy told them everything. The Briarwood’s, making his gun, living on a boat, and ending up in a cell in the Umberhills. Percy and Vax talked long after the others went to bed, staying up practically all night talking about their lives. Vax remembered thinking that he hadn’t been this happy in a long time once Percy had fallen asleep on his shoulder, their hands intertwined.

“Now, what could you possibly be thinking about that’s better than making out with me?” Percy asked, eyebrow raised. His soulmate was currently strataling Vax, leaving trails of kisses down his neck as Vax laid back comfortably on their bed.

“Just thinking about when we first met,” Vax smiled as he kissed Percy.

“Nostalgic now are we?” Percy laughed, kissing him again much more feverishly.

“Well, sue me for being a romantic,” the rogue chuckled, lacing his fingers through his soulmates white hair.

“You know I love how romantic you are,” Percy told him reassuringly, brushing his hands up and down Vax’s torso.

Vax let out a breath as he stared up at his boyfriend, practically falling into the deep blue pools of his eyes. “What did I possibly do to deserve such an amazing man as you?”  
“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing,” Percy smiled, taking Vax’s right arm and tracing his name with his finger tips. The sensation of touch made Vax squirm a bit. Percy noticed this and started kissing each letter of his name as it swirled around Vax’s arm.

“Percy…” Vax let out his name in a breath.

“Yes?”

Vax just smiled at him, using his arm to bring Percy down into a deep kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too, darling.”

—

If there was one thing Vax hated the most, it would have to be mind control. It was at the top of his list right next to the people who hurt his soulmate. And they just so happen to be the ones controlling him at this point.

The look on Percy’s face as Vax watched him through the other side of the glass, not being able to move as Lord Briarwood casted his spell on him, it made his heart break. Percy’s sister and soulmate, both next to the people who murdered his family as he was trapped, about to die. Vax wanted to move. He wanted so badly to turn around and stab Lord and Lady Briarwood in the face until they were a bloody mess.

“Come now boy, we’ve got work to do,” Silas said as he turned to walk down the chamber hallway.

Fuck you, was what Vax wanted to say, but his mouth stayed still as he followed the three. He could hear his sister, his soulmate, and his friends yelling towards them. Vax felt a tear fall down his cheek as he kept walking.

There was silence as Vax walked away from his friends, only the sound of faint footsteps echoing through the hallway. After a few minutes of walking Vax noticed something to the side. Acid was flowing like a river on one side of the hallway. How much acid did these bastards need?

“Stop.” Vax’s body followed suit and stopped with the other three. Silas looked at Delilah then looked over at the acid. She smiled wickedly and walked over to the acid river. She took a small empty bottle from her cloak and scooped some acid into it. The bottle must’ve been enchanted or something for it to hold the acid and not melt. She then walked over to Vax, holding out the bottle.

“Burn off his name,” Silas ordered, wicked grin matching his wife’s.

Vax could feel his heart in his throat. He knew what Silas meant by that. He couldn’t do that, no, no, no, no! Tears kept falling from his eyes as his body moved by itself again and he grabbed the bottle of acid and rolled up his sleeve.

As he looked at Percy’s name on his skin for the last time Vax let out a sob. This mark meant everything to him. Percy meant so much to him and to not have his name etched into his arm for eternity made him feel hollow.

Vax screamed as he started to pour the acid on the surface of his skin. It hurt like absolute hell, but it hurt more to see his name starting to burn away, nothing but faded letters and chard skin left.

“I’m so sorry…” he whispered as Silas ordered him down the hallway again.

—

His arm was fine. Pike used cure wounds and his skin regenerated, bone no longer visible and the skin no longer bubbling.

But his name didn’t reappear.

Pike persisted and tried again and again but the name never came back. All that was left of it was a slightly obscured ‘P’ and a lot of scars.

Vax couldn’t even look at his right arm without bursting into tears. And he hadn’t even told Percy yet.

He was so happy after they defeated the Briarwood’s he just couldn’t bear to see him sad again. So, he let Percy enjoy his Winters Crest Festival and told himself that he would tell him when things settled down again.

Percy, being the genius that he is, noticed something was wrong with Vax. Vax knew he couldn't evade his soulmate for long, which was why he wasn’t surprised when he saw Percy enter their room with a worried look on his face.

“What’s wrong dear?” he asked, taking a seat next to him on their bed.

“I…I have to tell you something.” Gods, he couldn’t even look him in the eye.

Now Percy seemed even more worried than before. “What is it?” The gunslinger put a hand on his shoulder as he waited for what Vax was going to say.

“When I was under the Briarwood’s control…they-they made me,” a sob escaped Vax before he could catch it.

The grip on his shoulder tightened as Percy got angry. “What did they make you do?”

Vax couldn’t get the words out, so he just rolled up his sleeve and showed Percy what he had done.

Percy was silent for a long time. He moved his hand off his shoulder to grab his arm, tentatively touching the scars, his fingers lingering on the barely visible ‘P’.

“If they weren’t already dead I would kill them again.” Percy’s voice was low and scary, like it had been when Orthax was still manipulating him.

“Percy I’m so sorry, I-I,” Vax choked out, tears flowing down his face.

“Don’t apologize. This wasn’t your fault, okay?” Percy told him sternly, wrapping his arms around the rogue and resting his head against his.

“But Percy, your name, it meant so much to me. And-And now it’s gone and-.” Vax was cut off when Percy kissed him.

“Vax, mark or no mark I am your soulmate. And I’ll never leave you, I promise,” Percy said, tears welling up in his own eyes as he peppered kisses on Vax’s face and wiped away his tears.

Vax brought his hand up to Percy’s cheek, rubbing circles with his thumb as he stared into his soulmates eyes. “How can you be so perfect all the time?” he laughed.

Percy smiled, “Please, I’m far from perfect, you know that.”

“Well, you’re perfect to me,” Vax said then kissed him, momentarily forgetting about the loss of his mark, and accepting that fact that Percy was still there with him.

**Author's Note:**

> there will be a part 2 to this!


End file.
